Last day in Salzburg - 2nd last day of our 1st Euro trip

We really prayed super hard for good weather on our 3rd day in Salzburg. Cuz our hostel-mate (Canadian girl) said that the Festung Hohensalzburg is a Must-see, especially if the skies are clear. Well, the skies havent been clear since we arrived at the place, I must say. That's why we spent some time watching Sound of Music in the hostel in Salzburg (home to Sound of Music) on day 2... grinz Not complaining. I like the show a lot. =)

Super glad to see it isn't drizzling... though the skies weren't looking especially cheerful...

Yeps by picture 3, we were quite quite happy. The winds were really strong but we couldn't complain cuz they were blowing the storm clouds away from the fortress - which in picture 4 as you can see, still looked shrouded by clouds...

We took a picture of the statue of the famous Mozart with the dark clouds in the background and proceeded ahead to look for the cable rail up the fortress.

Here it is! Hm... but it's a lil sad though. Twin & I wanted to walk up and cable down - that's 7 Euros each. 2 way cable plus museums is 10 Euros. Unfortunately, we didn't understand the man when he said the tix for 1 way cannot be bought at their office at the foot. So he printed 2 of the 2 way tix for us and made us pay for it. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise cuz pardon my language - the place was Bloody cold. Serious... our bones were rattling, our teeth chattering, and our Cappy brand (on promotion) orange juice from SPAR mart was chilled w/o a fridge. Perhaps it's good we went up by rail. hahaha

This was atop the fortress. We took the bird eye's view - not knowing this wasn't the best of it... I think we just wanted to get out of e cold and find the museums in the fortress... :)

A nice tourist pointed us in the right direction and we got ourselves audio guides w e tix that we purchased earlier.

The above... are taken from the highest lookout point of the fortress. You could see in alternate pictures, the city area and the country area of Salzburg, separated by a river, juxtaposed as above.

Within one of the museums, there were little craftily made models of the place. I'm going to use twin's favourite word 2: intricate. hehe That just about sums it up. I was amusing myself greatly taking pictures through the little windows in the models and capturing glimpses of structures and stairways within. =) Not sure what twin was doing peering at the models though. Maybe she's thinking she'll never be able to make one of those in her life time. hehe Well neither could I. =P

Those are the torture instruments. However, according to the audio guide, nobody was tortured within the torture chambers of the fortress. The torture chambers only housed the instruments. I sure hope it's true... Each of the above looks real forbidding... :(

The musical instruments used at war. This fortress actually withstood many a war, including the Peasant's war where there were many casualties. sighz Well I digress.. but yeps musicians among the readers, you'll know it's super hard to pitch even with keys. haha so check out the trombone/ horn w/o keys. haha The curvey thing is the serpent's horn I think... and naturally, flautists will take pictures of flutes where ever we see one - or two in this case. =P Even if they don't look that interesting.

The cannon was pointing out of this little peephole. I sure am glad this is just a tourist spot today. A cannon ball in the direction shown above would be disastrous...

Figurines of soldiers w their weapons. These were suspended with strings to keep them in a mobile position. It's coolness! - to quote twinnie.

This is recently excavated I think... when they were trying to restore the place. The work put into preserving this fortress is formidable. They even had a video to show you how much work it is... (oh btw, there's a organ in this fortress used to play melodies to wake Salzburg and its people up. Many musicians wrote pieces to be played on that. But it's in a little room that's locked so I don't really have a good picture to show you.)

Grin one of those pictures I couldn't resist taking when stopping by a random window in the fortress. Seriously, if some apartment in SG had such a view from each of its windows, that place can fetch billions in auction prices. hahaha Ok I'm dreaming.

Edelweiss! hehe Still dreamy about sound of music... =)

This is from the RainerMuseum (Rainer, Archduke of Austria). It's almost a war museum with the many pictures, drawn/painted in of war scenes in winter... a used boot left over from the wars, badges of army... Yeah you could tell that I looked most closely at the drawings and were suitably unimpressed by the military articles. However, this is a fortress. And unfortunate as it is, the beginnings of countries are often fraught with wars... :(

The staterooms! I think the grand piano wasn't there before.. but they probably had concerts here. =) Just a conjecture. I'm not sure.

THIS: twin declares, is Sher's favourite photo. Cuz there's the turnip crest. The turnip crest is owned by Leonardus - one of the archbishops who expanded the fortress rather extensively. So you really see this crest almost everywhere in the fortress. According to the audio guide, his family subsisted on their plot of turnips, so that's e most probable reason for the crest. He himself, however, insisted that the turnip is in e crest cuz his uncle threw a turnip at him. grins

Marionette Theatre - within the fortress as well (don't know why...). This is set up by the Aichers. They crafted and created their own puppets (lots of years of study and experience) and then put up the famous works with puppets. - stuff like Mozart's Magic Flute & Don Giovanni.

These puppets are dressed really richly in drapes and intricate embroideries. Not sure what style these are dressed in though... victorian?

One of the skeletal puppet models we saw around. =)

See the variety of hands available in puppetry? =P Should get them to make a cast of my beautiful - now extremely dry hands too. hohoho

I did mention the fortress had a wonderful view earlier didn't I? This is the more country-area of Salzburg; i.e. on the same side of the river as the fortress. =) Twin adored the little cottage you see in the 1st picture. My personal favourite is the little body of water in the 3rd picture. =)

I think twin & I adore those leafless trees. haha This is one of those in the middle of the courtyard of the fortress. =)

We went up to the Fortress by means of a cable rail. According to the little museum beneath the fortress, the rail used to run on hydro electric power - that's so cool! And there were no accidents all the time it was running. But in 1995 I think, they decided to change the system to keep up to safety standards and run it as it is now - on electricity. Within that little museum, we heard a strange noise of spurting water. Yes SPURTING. So we went to investigate and saw this little man: hehe it's 7 qiao4 chu1 shui3 really. grinz

A building almost encrypted into the fortress walls. I was rather taken by it... so here it is =)

Actually took the above 2 shots from the cemetry. The headstones are allocated to families rather than individuals. They are all very decorative with quiet grace and dignity. Respectful of the dead, we decided not to take any pictures of them. But in the chilly Salzburg air, there was an additional air of peace as we strolled through the cobblestone paths set in the maze of headstones.

This is the exit from the cemetry. Ach, I took this cuz the path set in cobblestones is so pretty... If I'm that rich, I'll set e entire corridor leading up to my flat in Singapore in cobblestone. hahaha

Okay. I tried for ages on end to capture this w/o a single human being. BUT it's just impossible. As soon as one person walks out of my screen, another group enters it. Twin was laughing hard from my efforts. aha In the end, I had to settle for this.

St Petersdom. =) We didn't enter it. 1 side of it is being restored at the moment though, as you can see from this picture. (er... museum fatigue set in and churches/doms/kirches fatigue is setting in fast too.)


This is one stall in the Alter Markt. We actually stumbled upon this market. And as usual, the display captivated us with its bright, radiant colours. =)


BIG juicy red tomatoes!!! Bought some in Poland that looked like that too. And yes, it's GOOD. really.


The fruits section. See the bananas? That's our target of the day. =P


Our expensive but very fresh and sweet bananas. Tastes really good - especially in the cold cold air. =)

It was almost lunch time... and we were trying to find the Kebab stall we saw yesterday. Then, just next door to Mozart's apartment/museum, we saw this place... which irritated us a great deal w the following:



Sigh it all looks so good. Not to mention the fantabulous smells that kept coming out of the place. But we were pragmatic people... Filling our tummies is of utmost importance. Luxurious food can wait. er i guess... :(

Musical instruments in a showcase! =)


See? Commercialized Mozart in the Salzburg he was trying to leave all his life - told you the tourism office is making the most of him.


Hundreds of birds take flight. I was so excited to get this on film; while twin worried that those birds will poop on her. grin She fled to safety some metres away. =P


Oh this is ANOTHER shop window. But it's one that looked so artsy that I just had to capture it. Guess it should be, cuz it seems to be a gallery of sorts. =)


Dom Platz (no. 8 on e tourist attractions map). I think this was where I asked twin why do people spend so much time & money to make a functional church so pretty... She said... it's a place where you want to feel at peace. Just as you do up your home furnishings, these people also wanted this church to convey the same sense of comfort and peace. I guess so... So I spent the rest of the time admiring the mural stories on the ceilings - there are abt 24 of those around the entire church. Twin sat down quietly and started to pray I guess. =)


Yet another church organ against elaborate architecture/carvings.

Another fantastic shop window. If things are like that in Singapore, I'll just keep walking and walking along the streets. *grin is herman thinking "heng it's not like that... else I'll be lugging laptop and walking down streets hour after hour"? =P


This, DK, is called TULIPS. No they are NOT the same as lilies. hahaha


This is e way to the Toy Museum in Salzburg. haha We went on Monday - to find it closed on Mondays... then by Tuesday, we'd lost interest in the place. Plus the cold was causing us a great deal of discomfort... Was suffering from tummy ache. Twin, being the nice motherly her, said "let's go sit down somewhere" =)

This is found at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg. The entrance of it I mean. hehe We were still suffering from museum fatigue, so no way are we going to spend precious euros on another museum of no particular interest to either of us. haha


We spent our time - almost 3 hours - roaming the streets, checking out Mango, Espirit, Zara... etc etc along the streets of Salzburg Old Town - and hiding from the rain at the same time. Hehs I was amused by this signage. It's like "awww... poor chicken... But it sure looks fat and good." =P carnivores @ work.


A warm shelter, a steaming cup of cocoa, a pen, paper. Notes on our little journey in this big big world. =)

Sugar keeps us happy! haha Twin was going on & on abt drinking cola... Finally we settled for this bag of cola gummies from the vending machine - yep the same one w e mozart chocs. =P


Concert @ Schloss Mirabell. Twin gave a short intro on this place earlier. Anw, this strings quartet is really quite good. Think they played 2 pieces from Mozart and 1 from Haydn. =) We were however a lil distracted by the number of balding heads among the audience. Hehs Yes... disgraceful behavior from us.. But you can't really stop our eyes from seeing what is of interest =P


2 of us looking half asleep @ e lounge area in Salzburg train station... night train at 2342hrs... We came from the concert so we were more than an hr early...

Twin pouting as we wait sleepily for our night train...

Trying 2 squash face up to look thinner... apparently, being in Europe does make one rounder.. :(

Bidding Salzburg farewell... This is the almost deserted train station by night. Glad we didn't decide to skip this place altogether. There is just so much beauty in this quaint place w rolling hills & snow capped mountains, bustling streets and a fortress guarding it. =)